The housing committee for the general ultra-Orthodox population, whose members are H.E. Avraham Salonim, Eliezer Yotkovski, Rabbi Amir Crispel, Zvi Rabinski and attorney Natan Rosenblatt, this morning publish an open letter in the ultra-Orthodox press in which they appeal to all the MKs of the ultra-Orthodox factions with a series of urgent steps to solve the housing crisis the orthodox
At the beginning of the letter, they state that the issue of ultra-Orthodox housing was at the center of the election campaign, and now it is time to fulfill the promises. The members of the committee present four practical and immediate steps, which do not require a change in any legislation or regulations, are not sectoral but help the public as a whole, do not consume a single shekel from the state budget, and most importantly – produce more than a large number of apartments within a few months, including several thousand apartments in the coming month!
A. Canceling or reducing the preference of local residents in apartment lotteries at a discount.
General Explanation; In the lotteries in the periphery, there is currently a preference for residents in about half of the apartments. Which creates wrongful discrimination on the basis of place of residence.
the ultra-orthodox point; In addition to the fact that 99% of the ultra-orthodox public cannot register for half of the apartments, this situation makes it impossible to organize almost any project. Reducing this matter (which I petitioned to the High Court against) will already in the next month lead to several thousand apartments for the ultra-Orthodox public.
B. Determining flexible planning in new projects, where the final planning will be determined according to the nature of the actual population.
General Explanation; Today, the planning of the neighborhood is in advance for the secular or ultra-Orthodox public, which limits the future buyers or winners even if it turns out that the character of the neighborhood is different. Thus there are secular neighborhoods in Harish with strictly sukkah balconies and deserted synagogues, and ultra-orthodox neighborhoods without sukkah and synagogues.
the ultra-orthodox point; Just as we did in Kiryat Gat – the authors point out – the planning will be flexible and determined according to the final buyers.
third. Easing eligibility for lotteries and rent assistance. Such as: eligibility from the engagement, promotion in the queue according to the number of children and siblings, lowering the income threshold for assistance in the Shakad, changing the criteria for the amounts given in assistance, along with additional points (small and subject to quick change), behind each of which are hidden thousands (!) of families who can reach for an apartment or at least for assistance in Shchad quickly.
General explanation: Today it is very difficult for many families to reach the threshold required for rent assistance, and also to participate in the lottery.
The ultra-Orthodox point: the criteria today discriminate against ultra-orthedim, a change will bring immediate income to thousands of additional families.
d. Allowing eligible purchasing groups to compete in advance for a tender. under certain conditions to be determined.
General explanation: currently only contractors can access apartment auctions at a discount, which of course makes the apartment more expensive by tens of percent.
The ultra-orthodox point: this way, those entitled to a housing price will also be able to choose who they want to live next to.
Of course, this is only first aid, which by definition is only for the first period. When at the same time a series of steps is needed for the medium and long term. But these three points require almost nothing, and bring relief immediately.
At the end of their letter, the members state that they would be happy to meet with each of the representatives in order to discuss the matter, as well as in order to bring the full data.
The letter was drafted and initiated by attorney Natan Rosenblatt, who works extensively for ultra-Orthodox housing, and he also sent copies of the appeal to all the members of the councils of Gadoli and Sages of the Torah, Gdaoli of Israel and rabbis, and to the professional ranks in the relevant ministries. will be able to sell the apartments they bought at a discount – even seven years ago. At the moment there are many ultra-Orthodox with apartments in secular cities, and in contrast to them are a number of seculars who won an apartment in Bnei Brak or Beit Shemesh, for example.